I started this blog and podcast to cover visual effects issues that weren’t covered elsewhere. I wanted to provide the full spectrum of vfx knowledge based on my experience. I had no interest in yet another blog about setting key frames in Maya. To that end I’ve covered budgeting, careers, creative choices, technical concepts, business and other issues.

One of the larger issues that Visual Effects workers have to deal with is quality of life and benefits. I think these are important issues to those involved professionally in visual effects and those planning to get involved in vfx as a career. Many things have been changing both locally and globally that need to be addressed. So that’s why I’ve written a number of posts about these issues and will continue to do so if I think there is something new to report or discuss. You may be with a company or in a country such that you’re not directly impacted by any of this and just want to ignore it. But at the end of the day this is all interconnected, like it or not. The fact you may not seeing it first hand doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

Visual Effects has always been a field that has had its ups and downs based on the amount of work available. In the last several years many countries and states have been offering various incentives to productions. That combined with emerging vfx globalization has caused a number of vfx companies in the U.S. and more specifically California, to close. Many vfx artists have had to travel to other locations around the world to keep working. The visual effects work done around the world have helped US studios make record profits and yet vfx artists are often considered as secondary to many of the other groups in filmmaking.

VFX are the last link before a film is released and as such most vfx artist put in a lot of hours, especially toward the end of the production. 90+ hrs is fairly common at times. So what happens to those people who put in all that time? Most are laid off at the end of the project unless the company has another film or tv project lined up. And when they are laid off any benefits they had soon go away as well. VFX is one of the few areas in motion pictures not covered by unions. Many vfx companies are in a race to be the cheapest supplier of vfx so they can compete with 20-40% tax incentives. One of the ways this is done by forcing artists to be independents contractors with no benefits who then have to pay all taxes and benefits themselves. At the end of the day in many parts of the world, and certainly in the US, it’s the employees that are being squeezed between the studios and vfx companies.

This started the ball rolling to finally have vfx artists speaking about some of the issues that they face.

Lucasfilm and Pixar, two of the most successful vfx and animation companies, have been charged with collusion by the Department of Justice in order to avoid competing for animators and to avoid increasing wages for these artists.
Who’s looking after the artists? Currently only the artists are looking after themselves and most don’t.

One of the problems has been those of us in vfx enjoy the creation process so much and are so focused on the actual work we often lose sight of reality with the rest of our lives. Having a balanced family life and being continually covered for such things as health care and retirement at time seems like a pipedream. Some of those who worked on Star Wars are now closing in on retirement without a lot to show for it. Many of the digital age are being burned out or being left behind by productions going elsewhere.

VES
So what can be done to help the state of vfx artists? How do we help ourselves and the business we love to work in? There is the Visual Effects Society (VES) which provides a worldwide professional organization that helps to raise awareness of VFX, provides education and standardization. Many in the vfx community have looked to the VES to handle all of these other problems but the VES is not a union or a trade organization. For it to become either of these would akin to the Academy of Motion Pictures and Television to become a union. That’s not its role.

There are many in vfx that say the VES should do this or that. The VES is a non-profit involving primarily volunteers. (I’m on the board of Directors of the VES and as such volunteer my time as I did with the VES Handbook.) And here is the issue that is repeated here. If you want something then please step forward and lend a hand.

Union
We are now at a crossroads. This fall 2 unions (IATSE, IBEW) stepped forward and have offered to represent vfx artists. This is a moment of time that won’t last forever. In a year or two the window will be closed and that will be that, so it’s important that everyone involved with visual effects get educated about these issues and what it means to their future. Some of the vfx companies have also been meeting regarding setting up a trade organization. I think both of these would be beneficial to raise the level of vfx production and balance it for the artists and companies.

There are some people saying a VFX Union will be the nail in the coffin for vfx in the US. We’ve already been non-union and that hasn’t stopped jobs from going elsewhere for the last 10-15 years. (The unions can’t stop jobs from going elsewhere either.) So what do these people propose? Please, post a working solution. I don’t think ignoring it is going to help. Just how far do you want your benefits and wages to fall before it’s enough? If low compensation is the only thing keeping vfx in the US then we’d all better be ready to drop our compensation in half to compete with government incentives elsewhere.

At the Academy Awards tonight, best cinematography winner Wally Pfister made a point during his acceptance speech of thanking his union crew on “Inception.”

Backstage he went further, expressing shock at Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal, which would limit union’s collective bargaining powers. Opponents of the plan have been protesting at the state capitol for 21 days.

“I think that what is going on in Wisconsin is kind of madness right now,” Pfister says. “I have been a union member for 30 years and what the union has given to me is security for my family. They have given me health care in a country that doesn’t provide health care and I think unions are a very important part of the middle class in America all we are trying to do is get a decent wage and have medical care.”

Shouldn’t vfx artists be able to get the same benefits as everyone else in movie and television production? Just about everyone on stage giving and receiving awards were in unions. Directors, writers, cinematographers, actors, etc. Or should we simply try to ignore the situation and continue to have people working as independent contractors with no benefits since that seems to be working so well. This is not your father's union. It is up to those in vfx to step up and help make it what they want. The Animation Union has a posting with related information.

So what does this have to do with Wisconsin and the middle class? One of the comments was that I was making a big deal about nothing. There was a similar comment when I discussed health care where the commenter thought I had been exaggerating the issues and costs. Yet the costs I quoted for health care are what I had to pay in real life. These are facts. My daughter is in her mid 20’s. Her insurance increased 19% last October. She just received a notice that it will now be increased another 19%. This goes into effect just 6 months since the last increase. I wish I was exaggerating but this is happening in real life. If you’re in a location or situation you don’t have to deal with these issues then consider yourself lucky but don’t dismiss them as exaggerations of others.

Middle class – newsflash: vfx artists are the middle class. We work for a living. We work long hours trying to make a reasonable living for ourselves and our families. We’re not kicking back and making multimillion dollars off of investments nor are we on the street (although some are coming close). In case you hadn’t noticed the world economy tanked a couple of years ago. This was caused by bankers and those on Wall Street. The rich. And who exactly has had to pay the price for that problem? Us. The workers. The middle class. Higher costs, home foreclosures, less jobs, less benefits. Many laws were broken and incredibly bad decisions were made but the rich aren’t being fired nor is there even consideration to prosecute any of them. Many received bonuses for driving the companies into the ground. Do you think you'd get a bonus for doing bad work in vfx? Bonuses were in the billions on Wall Street. What was your last bonus? (Bernie Madoff was a fluke and the only one to get into trouble.) There is still no form of regulation. This will happen again. Even though the pay of CEO’s has skyrocketed in the last 20 years, most working wages have been much slower to rise and in fact most workers compensation hasn’t kept up with the cost of health care and other costs.

The unions have helped to provide some standards for working that has lead to the middle class. The workweek, vacation, etc can be traced back to many of the issues the unions have fought for. You’ve already benefited from the unions even if you didn’t know it. Guess which way things will shift if the unions and any type of worker groups are denied? Do you really think companies are going to be jumping in and adding benefits even after the economy gets back on track?

One of the commenter’s thought I had made this into a us versus them type of argument. I didn’t create the situation but when you actually take the time to read the facts and figures it’s hard to ignore the reality. There are people focused on specific agendas and improving the world for everyone is not on their list.

What’s happened in Wisconsin and has been happening in other parts of the world is that at some point those working in the trenches finally say enough is enough. Will that ever happen to you? Will people be willing to take a stand for themselves and their future? Should that be happening in visual effects? Are you willing to step forward if you don’t think something is right? Or will you stand on the sidelines? Related: VFX Solder posting

Wisconsin – On the surface it sounds simple enough. To help balance their budget the state is asking the people who work for the state to reduce their wages and their benefits, because after all, we all have to tighten our belts. In visual effects there’s the term “smoke and mirrors” to create an illusion. And in this case it’s “smoke and mirrors” to be used for its dirtiest deed: propaganda without any truth.

Here are some of the Wisconsin issues in a nutshell for those that don’t like to follow links. For those interested I have a number of links at the end covering all this and more in great detail. Amazing and appalling.

Historical info:
In 2008 Scott Walker was chief executive of the Milwaukee County Board. He was trying to slash union positions and yet at the same time he was trying to get increases for his aides of 11-26%. He attempted to bypass the county supervisors and make it so.

In early 2010 he wanted to fire 26 union security guards that worked for the county to ‘save money’. The county board rejected the idea. He then ignored the board and fired 26 union security guards. He claimed it was a budget emergency. Now instead of hiring a local company to provide security (and jobs) Walker hired the non-US security company Wackenhut, the same company that had major problems with their employees in Kabal. (Drunk and naked among other things). The person who was put in charge of this security team was an ex-convict. In January of this year a state arbitrator deemed there was no such budget emergency and that Walker had over stepped his bounds of authority. The county is required to rehire the guards that had been fired and pay them their back pay. Cost to the county: over $400,000. Walker would have been fired at most companies.

So what about the current budget woes and emergency?
From the February 18 New York Times editorial, "Just last month, he [Walker] and the Legislature gave away $117 million in tax breaks, mostly for businesses that expand and for private health savings accounts. That was a choice lawmakers made, and had it not been for those decisions and a few others, according to the state's Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state would have had a surplus."

Odd, for someone who wants to balance his budget he’s put the state in even more red. I wonder who he can get to make up for these trumped up budget woes? Who should he blame as the reason for the budget problems? Why the state union workers of course. He’ll blame them for causing the financial troubles in Wisconsin and appeal to non-union workers that these union workers are getting way more benefits and aren’t willing to tighten their belts like everyone else.

Many state workers in Wisconsin are covered by unions. Nurses, teachers, firemen, policemen, etc. They had worked out contracts with the state to be paid at a lower wage rate than most private workers but with higher benefits. As the years have progressed wages and benefits for private sector workers slowed and in some cases started going backwards. So now the state workers, who have been doing their jobs and have contracts, are being asked to make up for the Wall Streets melt down and the politician’s self created financial problems. Note here that some of the unions are being targeted and others, who supported Walker’s election, are not. And so the unions said they were willing to cut back on both wages and their benefits to help out but the governor has refused. He wants to end any type of collective bargaining. So the main thing he claims to want to do, balance the budget, is not really want he wants to do. Eliminating collective bargaining itself doesn’t save the state anything. The latest information is it will likely cost the state almost $47 million in loss of Federal transit aid. Wow, he’s saving the taxpayers money right and left.
Workers: -1 Wall Street: Bonuses

Among the gems folded into the current Wisconsin budget proposal:
The ability of the state to sell any power plants without bids and without input.
Full control over Medicare by a small committee with no public input.

Taxes
While the middle class is being shaken down and all public projects are being eliminated it’s mind boggling when you find out that much of this could be eliminated if the government simply closed the tax loopholes for the rich and companies.

One thing that’s currently happening in the UK is some people have realized all of the things that are being slashed to save money (Children’s hospitals, etc) would be fully paid for if companies and the rich were actually taxed.

Warren Buffett discovered he was paying a lower tax rate than his secretary and has spoken about how unbalanced the tax structure is.

“As he [Carl Gibson] says, if you have “one dollar” in your wallet, you’re paying more than the “combined income tax liability of GE, ExxonMobil, Citibank, and the Bank of America“”

Summary
So should workers have any rights? Should the working middle class shoulder even more? Should VFX artists have rights? I hope this has provided at least a little more insight to how these issues interconnect.

(I have some specific VFX postings in the works but in the meantime feel free to check out some of these links).

Monday, February 21, 2011

For those of you who may not be aware the American Middle Class is under attack by the rich and the powerful. The corporations are pushing ahead in the name of greed. For those of you who don't understand unions or what the have done for you already...

Just how long can the companies keep fooling people with rhetoric and hypocrisy?

In the world of motion picture production in the U.S. almost all categories of people involved belong to a union of one sort or another. Directors, writers, actors, camera crew, art department, wardrobe, makeup, grips, etc. with the exception of Visual Effects (VFX). Why are they all union? Because then they have health insurance and pension. Critical for anyone involved in the freelance world of motion pictures (including television and commercials). In this country health insurance is out of control. Yearly increases of of over 20-30% are happening every year now. Soon the only people who will have health care will be those in congress.

The other thing a union provides is a method of collective bargaining. A person of one has very little
input and is very easy to dismiss and ignore.

I'm not here to say all unions are perfect. The thing though to understand you typically have one group (such as a company) who wants to pay the least possible it can in wages and benefits.
In the motion picture industry many new comers would be more than happy to work for minimum wage or to pay to work on a project. Most company's don't care except for their top tier of people.
On the other side of the spectrum you have unions who try to keep up wages and benefits as much as reasonable. It can be a tug of war which would be lost immediately if there were no balance.

Just a quick recap for newcomers:
VFX artists work around the world. Typical work week is 50hrs minimum but 90 hr+ weeks and 7 days a week are not that uncommon. Given those hours they typically give up much social and family life.

These are hard working people working on very complex images under incredible time limits. They've developed very specialized high technology skill sets and artistic ability learned through years of experience.

Work is on a project by project basis so after a few months the worker may have finished on one film project and now have to search for work all over again. Any health care that they might get will be gone as they have to work for another company.

In the topsy turvy world of vfx, the top 20 money making films of all time are vfx films. The top vfx films every year create billions of dollars of gross. And yet profits for those involved in vfx is minimal. The various tax incentives around the world have made it impossible to compete on a level playing field.

Those who are involved with visual effects but don't have an interest in some type of representation fall in a few groups it seems to me.

1. Those concerned that all work in the U.S. will instantly vanish should the U word even be uttered.
Here's the reality: the unions are not stupid. They will have to work with the companies to strike a reasonable balance. Since most VFX workers currently make reasonable wages the big issue will be benefits. Those companies that pay no benefits will be the hardest hit. But if they're not providing benefits it seems like they're on thin ice already. If you're working for a company who doesn't provide any benefits and have to pay your own health care and other taxes just how good of spot are you anyway? How long will the company stay in business if it has to squeeze this much? Are you really making a working wage if you're paying your own health insurance? (and the punch line is: 'What, and give up show business?')

2. Those who are young and naive to think everything will sort itself out. You're not sick. You haven't been to a doctor in 5 years. La ti da. And why do you think you have car insurance?
The problem here is time does fly by quickly, more quickly than you think. At some point you may want to marry, have kids and have a house. How are you even going to be able to afford insurance at that point? You think you're paid well but try paying $12-24,000 after taxes to just cover health insurance? What happens if the unexpected happens? You're hosed. A percentage of those people who had their home foreclosed or living on the street? Bankruptcy due to illness and medical
expenses. The health insurance companies in the U.S. are in it for profit. They're like the house at a casino. They always win. The rates are always in their favor. Do you want to take the chance?

3. Those who think of themselves as artists. Too cool for school. Hmmm, tell me again my directors, writers, camera people and others are covered by unions but you don't want to be?

4. Those that think that all companies are looking after their employees.
Many vfx companies have been started by vfx artists themselves. But as time goes on mistakes may be made. Sometimes there are bad decisions, changes in management and other things that change the working conditions. When that happens you might not be sitting on the top of the pile after all. More than a few people have had the rug pulled out from under them. If the company goes under any health care you have is instantly gone.

5. You think you can alway negotiate for a great benefits and wage package. The various vfx
schools are churning out more vfx artists than the market can bear every year. Don't you think
the companies are eyeing the newcomers more the higher your coverage goes up? Many companies see their employees as cogs just as the studios look at vfx as a commodity. At some point your luck will run out. And it's actually very unlikely that great benefits package you got was as
great as you thought.

Recent Comments

Current state of VFX life

To get up to speed on what's happening to visual effects artists and workers around the world and their troubles:
Life After PI documents one of the many closing of a visual effects company.
This is on Rhythm and Hues which worked on Life of Pi and went bankrupt a few weeks before receiving an Academy award. Life After Pi